Workshops

Workshop: Implicit Bias

Facilitator: Claudia Morrell, Senior Education Consultant

Claudia Morrell is the former Chief Operations Officer for the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) where she served for four years as the visionary for and the chief developer of the Micromessaging to Reach and Teach Every Student™ educator professional development program. She also created and published a new research-based model (the Culture Wheel) to explain culture-based student achievement gaps and the point where educators can interrupt negative implicit bias to transform classrooms into spaces where every child can learn. Her work in partnership with Johns Hopkins School of Education led to a recent congressional briefing and a release of a national report entitled the Education Equation: A new model for improving STEM workforce outcomes through academic equity. http://www.napequity.org/solving-education-equation/

Today, Ms. Morrell is the program manager and director of the INSPIRES grant for Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS), a three million dollar grant funded by the National Science Foundation to UMBC to study secondary teachers’ implementation of an innovative engineering pedagogy into their biology and technical education classrooms.

Prior to joining NAPE, Ms. Morrell was founder and CEO for the Multinational Development of Women in Technology (MDWIT), founded in 2007 and recipient of a Governor’s Citation in 2008. She also served as executive director of the Center for Women and Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for seven years. Ms. Morrell is a skilled leader with a record of accomplishment in creating and directing innovative organizations and programs that have a demonstrated impact on improving student outcomes.

Ms. Morrell has a B.S. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A. from Loyola University Maryland.

Workshop: How to Win

Facilitator: Rakia Finley

Rakia Finley founded her first firm, Surge Assembly, in 2004, and co-founded her second, FIN. Digital, in 2015 both now serve as international service providers to nonprofits and corporations. Rakia has created over 50 jobs, and is a serial investor and entrepreneur with ventures in a number of industries.

With over 12 years of experience in the information technology industry, she has become an industry expert on organizational issues associated with program creation and growth. Rakia loves to empower her fellow woman. From speaking at conferences such as the Women of Color Entrepreneurship Conference to providing mentorship to the next generation of businesswomen. Her company also recently started an accelerator specifically for women entrepreneurs in the tech industry. She is a successful entrepreneur who thoroughly enjoy engaging with the tech community and sharing all the wisdom she has garnered through the years.

Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology at Arizona State University